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MAESTRO (July 2008) | Interview By:
Nima Etminan

Dubcnn sat down to talk to rising
producer Maestro, who got his big break in 2008 by producing the intro track
on Lil Wayne's album "Carter 3" and Ice Cube's street single "Gangsta Rap
Made Me Do It". He tells us how those two collaborations came about, his
path up until now and his future plans.
Maestro talks to us about his
relationship with the Dogg Pound and Y.A., working with David Banner, WC and
the possibility of a collaboration with Battlecat's brother Mykestro.
As always we have both the transcript and the audio for you to
check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to:
nima@dubcnn.com
Interview was done in July 2008.
Questions Asked By :
Nima Etminan
Maestro Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That
Here
Full Interview In Audio :
Here
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Dubcnn: We're right here with the
producer Maestro, who we've heard recently producing for Lil Wayne and Ice
Cube amongst others. First of all introduce yourself to everybody out there!
What's up dubcnn, it's your boy Maestro, producer of the year, platinum
plus, coming straight at your eardrums!
Dubcnn: To start it off, let's talk about what's going on right now. You're
on the Lil Wayne album, you did the intro track "3 Peat", how did you first
link up with Weezy?
Actually, I know a lot of people who knew Wayne, I was working with Dem
Franchize Boys and my business partner was actually on tour with Lil Wayne
on the Chris Brown tour. So I was cutting a lot of records that he was
hearing, and I was also working with a female writer who was working with
Wayne, she was shooting tracks his way as well. We started out with a couple
of other songs that came out during the summer and were available on
alternate versions of the album. "3 Peat" was the one that made the official
cut.
Dubcnn: I heard you had offered the beat to someone else first who didn't
end up using it or something along those lines?
Yeah, I had actually made the beat with Young Jeezy in mind. A lot of times
when I go in the lab to work on some tracks, I try to envision a certain
artist working on it and then I get at that particular person. It just so
happened that [Jeezy] wasn't feeling it the way I was.
Dubcnn: How does it feel to have the first track on an album that sold a
million in the first week?
Oh, it felt good man, it felt good. At the end of the day, you gotta realize
that everybody listens to the first song, it sets the tone for what's gonna
happen later on. So I knew I was getting those ears, I knew people were
hearing what I do, and the fact that he shouted me out on it just made it
that much better!
Dubcnn: Yeah I liked the way he put that together, how he incorporated the
tag into his rhyme.
Right! I usually just kind of throw the tag on there in like a critical
place where no one can take it out, so people don't 2-track my stuff, but
Weezy was right on time and he worked it into the rap, so it paid off!
Dubcnn: Now you also produced Ice Cube's street single "Gangsta Rap Made Me
Do It". How did that happen?
My cousin actually is partners with some of Cube's management, and I heard
that Cube was looking for tracks! I just went in, got my headphones on,
locked the doors and started trying to make whatever I thought he'd mess
with! It just so happened that he was feeling what I came up with!
Dubcnn: It's been a really good year for you, you got a track on the hottest
rapper right now and you got a track on one of the legends in Hip-Hop. Where
are you trying to go with it?
I'm just trying to get on as many hot records as possible, work with as many
influential artists as possible and really just try to take my style of
production to the forefront of the game. I hear a lot of different people
coming with different styles and I hear people getting pigeonholed as far as
what they do. I have a real versatile style, so I wanna hit every market,
every genre, every artist, every coast. That's my goal for the years to
come.
Dubcnn: Did you and Ice Cube do any other tracks together?
I sent him a couple of others, actually I had a song in one of his movies a
while back in the "XXX 2" soundtrack featuring Bone Crusher. We've linked up
before, we linked up just now for this single so it's bound for us to link
up on some more stuff in future! I'm actually about to go in with WC pretty
soon to work on his project, so I'm sure Cube is gonna come through and hop
on something hot!
Dubcnn: Tell us how you got into the game real quick, who were your
influences?
I got a lot of influences, I'm really influenced by good music. I had a
group called Parlay who's out of L.A., Inglewood to be exact, who I was
producing for in college. They were the first dudes who drove me to really
focus on production and try to express my talent. They were major influences
for me, but then also just listening to rappers! I was always a big Snoop
Dogg fan, Dogg Pound, Cube, I was always into West Coast rap. That's what
influenced me. As far as producers, Battlecat, all the greats, Dr. Dre,
Fredwreck. I really got a lot of my game and a lot of my style from the
West.
Dubcnn: Are there any specific artists that you wanna work with in the
future?
Man I really wanna work with some outthere stuff. Huge music! I wanna work
on life changing albums, life changing songs that people can really be
inspired by. Any artist that's coming with that flavor, stuff that's bigger
than the record and bigger than the radio, I wanna work with anybody that's
doing music of that caliber.
Dubcnn: That's what's up man, before we go is there anything else you wanna
let everybody know?
Look out for the new Dogg Pound, I've been working with Kurupt since day
one, so anything he's got coming out I'm definitely a part of. Also look for
that WC project and look for anything that's got the Maestro tag on it! If
the beat starts with that, you know it's gonna be hot!
Dubcnn: Let's go back to the Dogg Pound/Kurupt thing real quick, you said
you've been working with them, what have ya'll been working on?
Well I actually have one record that had a lot of underground acclaim, it
was called "Sand Niggaz" featuring Kurupt and Lil Tri from Y.A.. I go out to
L.A. to work with Y.A., Bizzle, Tri and I always get down with Kurupt.
Whenever he comes to Atlanta we stay cutting songs. I could put out a whole
Kurupt album on my own if I wanted to. Actually, I might do that! I failed
to mention him before, but Kurupt's definitely one of my greatest influences
and supporters as far as this production goes. Having been schooled by Dre,
he taught me exactly what a producer should do when they get in the lab with
an artist. So whenever I sit down with a person, from Kurupt to Wayne, I go
in to make a classic. He had a big impact on me as a producer.
Dubcnn: You should hook up with Battlecats little brother, he's called
Mykestro!
Yeah, Mykestro! That's actually really funny, I had a session with David
Banner where Battlecat came through, for a song called "Westside" on David
Banner's "Certified" album. Battlecat came up to me like "Damn little homie,
that shit slaps!"
Dubcnn: That's you who did that "Westside" track?
Yeah!
Dubcnn: I love that song, I didn't know you did that.
Yeah that's me. I don't even know if my tag was on there but that was one of
my first big ones. I appreciate that. So yeah Battlecat having a brother
named Mykestro, and him coming up to me knowing that I'm Maestro, and still
respect my game and not make no static about it, that really made me feel
good about what I was doing.
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Maestro Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That
Here
Full Interview In Audio :
Here
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